In this licence he is described as "widower." Who was his first wife?
Ralph Bucknall was elected M.P. for Great Marlow in 1690, but lost his seat on petition. He Was, however, returned for Petersfield in the short Parliament, Feb. to Nov., 1701. Was he akin to the previous M.P.'s? On 30 April, 1670, a licence was granted to Ralph Bucknall of St. Sepulchre's, London, widower, to marry Elizabeth, daughter of John Birch of Whitburne, co. Hereford. This doubtless represents a second marriage of this M.P. Who was his first wife, and when did he die? W. D. Pink.
"Mr. Bridges."—In 1739 T. Cooper, "at the Globe in Pater-noster-row" published "An Hymn to the Supreme Being. With a Preface on the General Design of it," by Mr. Bridges. I can find nowhere an account of this namesake of the Poet Laureate. Five persons of the name of Bridges are recorded in the 'Dict. Nat. Biog.,' but their dates do not fit in with that of the writer of the 'Hymn,' nor can I find any mention of him in Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets,' Spence's 'Anecdotes,' or Walpole's 'Letters,' although there may be a faint possibility that he maybe identical with the "Mr. Bridges" with whom Horace disclaims any acquaintance in a letter to Cole dated 24 July, 1778 (Toynbee's ed., ex. 288). Perhaps Mr. W. P. Courtney may be able to give some particulars of him.
Every one knows that Mr. Winston Churchill has a namesake in America who has published some excellent novels. The Laureate has also a double on the other side of the Atlantic, whose poetry finds many readers there. His earliest work, which was published in 1894, was 'Overheard in Arcady.' W. F. Prideaux.
Halsall.—I should be glad of any information as to a colonel of this name in the English army, who in the first half of the eighteenth century settled in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, where he became a prominent man. John B. Hinchman.
"Agonda" and "Akoda."—Ratzel's 'The History of Mankind,' trans. Butler, vol. iii. p. 114, 1898, mentions among the vegetable foods of the West African negroes a kind of gourd called agonda, the seeds of which are powdered and boiled for eating. Can any contributor to 'N. & Q.' kindly say of what language and meaning this word is; in what writing it occurs for the first time; how the plant scientifically is named and described; what is the form of its ripe fruit; where it originally grew, and where it is cultivated at present?
A diary of the Ashikaga Shôgun's household during the years 1516-20 mentions akoda, which was, according to later authorities, a sort of pumpkin, globose and orange-red, and eaten raw. The dates of the diary prove the akoda to have existed in Japan some twenty years before the opening of her people's intercourse with the Europeans (1542-3), whereas the common pumpkins and water-melons are said to have been introduced during the seventeenth century (Dr. T. Ito's Proceedings of the Natural History Society, Tokio, 1888, p. 40, and Terashima's 'Encyclopædia,' 1713, tom. c.). I much doubt the name akoda being a native word, and should be glad to be told if in any other tongue this or an allied name is applied to some cucurbitaceous plant with esculent fruits. Kumagusu Minakata.
Scobell.—I have two ancestors, born respectively in the years 1783 and 1788 at Dock (the old name for Devonport), by name Scobell. I am anxious to obtain certificates of their baptism, or to discover where and when they were christened.
I have followed the usual course of applying to the vicars of churches in that neighbourhood without any success, also to the Diocesan Registry at Exeter.
Can any one kindly advise me of a likely place to apply to for the information I seek? J. E. D. Hill (General).
Hawes of Solihull.—I am a descendant of Edmond Hawes of Solihull, Warwickshire, whose father, William Hawes, in 1576 built Hillfield Hall in that parish. This Edmond married before 1600 Jane, daughter of Richard Porter of Bayham, Frant, Sussex. He had a large family. He seems to have disposed of his Solihull lands, and to have left that parish before 1643, when the will of his brother-in-law, John Porter of Lamberhurst, Kent, indicates that he was living near him. I have been unable to find the will or the date and place of death of this Edmond. He had three sons, William, John, and Edmond. The last-named was a member of the Cutlers' Company of London. He went to Massachusetts in 1635, and died in Yarmouth, in that colony, in 1693, after serving his community in important offices. A will of William Hawes of London about 1650
